Though it seems the spring has featured more awful weather than not, Monday was a spectacular day for softball, and Jefferson took advantage by staying hot and holding on to beat a solid Sparta team, 3-2, at Station Park.

The Falcons did it with timely, opportunistic hitting, overcoming the nine-strikeout performance of Sparta’s Kim Puccio. Jefferson also prevailed with five shutout innings from junior hurler Gabby Puglis, and two bend-without-breaking innings of relief from senior Melissa Jurkiewicz.

The win came a day before Jefferson’s Morris County Tournament showdown against Chatham (today, 4 p.m.) and a week before their rescheduled matchup with NJAC Freedom Division stalwart Lenape Valley (next Monday, 4 p.m.). Staying sharp, especially against a team like Sparta, was huge.

“It was a really good day,” Jefferson coach Nick DeGennaro said. “Kim (Puccio) is an excellent pitcher; she’s going to Division I (University of Maryland Baltimore County) for a reason. So when you get those opportunities (against her), you’ve got to make it count. I wish we had gotten some of our bunts down and maybe extended that lead a little bit, but it was a great team effort.”

“They’re a rival of ours,” Puglis said, “and I think it’s a great game every time we play them.”

“I love when we beat teams like this,” Jurkiewicz said, “because it pumps us up for the next game.”

The Falcons’ overall effort was highlighted by Puglis’ solid five innings.

, which included five strikeouts. “I felt really good,” Puglis said. “I think the team helped me out a lot.”

Still, it was Puccio who was hardest to solve early on, striking out five of the first six batters she faced, including the second-inning Jefferson side. The Falcons, though, got something cooking in the top of the third with some good, old-fashioned small ball.

Lauren Gutowski became the first Jefferson player to get on base when she reached on an error. She went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Stephanie Agnes, but when she tried to score on a ball hit by Nicole Vassallo, Gutowski was thrown out on a 5-to-2 toss from Sparta third baseman Amanda Johnson to catcher Courtney McKenna.

Jefferson was still in business because Vassallo reached first base on the play at home. And after Vassallo stole second, she scored on an error resulting from a ball hit by Amanda Delfino, giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead.

Delfino was thrown out trying to take second, ending Jefferson’s half-inning.

The Falcons’ lead remained 1-0 until the top of the sixth inning, when they tore off four straiwght hits. Caitlyn Dougherty led off by ripping a single to left, and she went to third when Kayla Weber swatted a single to center. Weber was replaced at first base by courtesy runner Jurkiewicz.

Diana Gatto then singled to score Dougherty, and Isabel Seise reached with an infield single to score Jurkiewicz, stretching Jefferson’s lead to 3-0.

The Falcons tried to scratch across a few more runs that inning, but two putouts at the plate and Puccio’s eighth strikeout allowed Sparta to escape without further damage.

The Spartans pieced together a rally in the bottom of the sixth, starting with consecutive singles from Alex Heim, McKenna and Shannon Monahan, the last of which scored Heim to make it a 3-1 game. Gretchen Bowie’s fielder’s choice forced Monahan out at second, but McKenna scored on the play, drawing Sparta within 3-2.

Brooke Ennis walked, giving the Spartans runners on first and second with one out against Jurkiewicz, who had relieved Puglis at the start of the inning. Jurkiewicz, though, came up with a strikeout and induced a forceout at third to halt the Spartans.

Sparta had two on in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t push the tying run across.